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A facile one-step sonochemical synthesis of Cu2O nanocubes has been developed by ultrasound irradiation of copper sulfate in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone and ascorbic acid at pH 11. During sonication, the reaction between acoustic cavitation-generated radicals and CuSO4 produced Cu(OH)2 intermediate which then reacted with ascorbic acid to generate Cu2O nanocubes. The products were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, HRTEM, AFM and particle size analyzer. The prepared Cu2O nanocubes were found to be very effective for enhancing chemiluminescence in the presence of luminol-H2O2 system.

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Porous NiTiO nanorods were synthesized through the sonochemical route followed by calcination at various temperature conditions. Surface morphology of the samples was tuned by varying the heat treatment temperature from 100 to 600°C. The synthesized NiTiO nanorods were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffused reflectance spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analyses. The characterization studies revealed that the NiTiO nanomaterial was tuned to porous and perfectly rod shaped structure during the heat treatment at 600°C. The porous NiTiO nanorods showed visible optical response and thus can be utilized in the photocatalytic degradation of ceftiofur sodium (CFS) under direct sunlight. The photoluminescence intensity of the porous NiTiO nanorods formed while heating at 600°C was lower than that of the as-synthesized NiTiO sample owing to the photogenerated electrons delocalization along the one dimensional nanorods and this delocalization resulted in the reduction of the electron-hole recombination rate. The photocatalytic degradation of ceftiofur sodium (CFS) was carried out using NiTiO nanorods under the direct sunlight irradiation and their intermediate products were analysed through HPLC to deduce the possible degradation mechanism. The porous NiTiO nanorods exhibited an excellent photocatalytic activity towards the CFS degradation and further, the photocatalytic activity was increased by the addition of peroxomonosulfate owing to the simultaneous generation of both OH and SO.

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